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Worksheet with listening comprehension by Marcus Lachmund
Shakespeare’s First Folio celebrates its 400th anniversary this year
Read On • November 2023 • page 5 Page 1 of 6
Listening comprehension
1. Listen to the first part of the text. This version contains ten mistakes. Underline each
wrong word, and write your corrections in the right column. You will hear the text twice.
In 1633, John Heminge and Henry Condell decided to honour their late friend (01)
and fellow actor William Shakespeare by publishing a folio edition of his plays. (02)
400 years on, it stays one of the most influential books ever printed. (03)
In the early 17th century, playwrights were considered mere entertainers. (04)
If their dramas were that good, they would sometimes be printed on the cheap (05)
and sold to theatregoers for a few pennies. Much as today's newsprint, these (06)
copies often ended up as scrapping paper. (07)
But William Shakespeare deserved better because even his (08)
contemporaries recognised this literary genius. Shakespeare’s famous (09)
poet friend Ben Jonson described him as being “the Soul of the Age”. (10)
Several of Shakespeare’s plays had already been printed in smaller formats (11)
before his death in 1660. However, the First Folio was a much more ambitious (12)
project that involved publishing all of his “Comedies, Histories & Tragedies” in a (13)
silver volume. (14)
Printing presses with moveable type had existed since around 1440, but book (15)
publishing remained a big challenge in the early 17th century. (16)
The only printing house in England meet the skills and the manpower to (17)
complete so big a task at the time appears to have been Isaac Jaggard of (18)
London. (19)
William Jaggard had produced a pirated copy of Shakespeare’s plays several (20)
years earlier; but Heminge and Condell still wanted William’s son Isaac (21)
and his associate to print the official collection. (22)
The result saw a huge book containing 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, 18 of (23)
which had never been published before. (24)
© 2023 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Shakespeare’s First Folio celebrates its 400th anniversary this year
Read On • November 2023 • page 5 Page 2 of 6
2. Listen to the second part of the text (paras. 9–18), and tick () the right answers.
a) Copies of the First Folio ...
- sell between $10 million and $20 million at auction. ( )
- sell between $1 million and $20 million at auction. ( )
- sell between $1 million and $10 million at auction. ( )
b) The First Folio ...
- contains many mistakes. ( )
- contains almost no mistakes. ( )
- doesn’t have many versions. ( )
c) The biggest collection of First Folios ....
- can be found in England. ( )
- can be found in the Unites States. ( )
- can be found in a museum in Washington. ( )
d) The Norton Facsimile …
- is made up of the worst pages of the First Folio ( )
- is still in print ( )
- was financed by the US military. ( )
© 2023 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Shakespeare’s First Folio celebrates its 400th anniversary this year
Read On • November 2023 • page 5 Page 3 of 6
Reading comprehension
1. Read the first part of the text (paras. 1– 8), and decide whether the following statements
are true (T), false (F), or not mentioned (N). Check the correct box.
Statement T F N
a) William Shakespeare was not only a writer but also an actor.
b) Many theatregoers bought printed copies of Shakespeare’s plays.
c) Shakespeare’s qualities as a writer weren’t appreciated during his
lifetime.
d) Publishing books wasn’t that easy around 1600.
e) Isaac Jaggard of London still is a famous printing house.
f) William Jaggard produced the first official book of Shakespeare’s plays.
2. Lies die Absätze 9–18 des Textes und beantworte die folgenden Fragen (stichpunktartig)
auf Deutsch.
a) Warum haben relativ viele erste Gesamtausgaben überlebt? Begründe.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
b) Warum ist die erste Shakespeare-Gesamtausgabe alles andere als perfekt? Begründe.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
c) Wie konnte das berühmte Norton-Faksimile zusammengestellt werden?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
© 2023 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Shakespeare’s First Folio celebrates its 400th anniversary this year
Read On • November 2023 • page 5 Page 4 of 6
Vocabulary
1. Find a word or expression that means the same as each of the words (a–k) below. The
paragraphs where you can find the words in the article are indicated in brackets.
a) important (para. 1)
b) simple (para. 2)
c) challenging (para. 4)
d) bootleg (para. 7)
e) gigantic (para. 8)
f) resistant (para. 9)
g) authentic (para. 10)
h) about (para. 11)
i) essentially (para. 12)
j) undamaged (para. 15)
k) well-known (para. 16)
2. Look at the text again. Match the following words (a–h) with their definitions (A–J). There
are two definitions that you will not need.
Word
a) to honour (para. 1)
b) to consider (para. 2)
c) to deserve (para. 3)
d) to involve (para. 4)
e) to remain (para. 5)
f) to impress (para. 11)
g) to compile (para. 15)
h) to elevate (para. 18)
Definition
A to be able to do something well
B to take information from different sources and put it together
C to make someone feel admiration or respect
D to believe someone or something to be something
E to have or include something as a necessary part
F to raise or lift something to a higher position
G to do something in order to show someone respect
H to continue to be something
I
J
to be worthy of
to produce a book and sell it
a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h)
© 2023 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Shakespeare’s First Folio celebrates its 400th anniversary this year
Read On • November 2023 • page 5 Page 5 of 6
Grammar
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first one. Use the
KEY WORD in brackets and do not change it. You must use between four and five words.
1 Their dramas being good, 17th-century playwrights such as Shakespeare had a good chance to be
printed.
(WERE)
__________________________________________________________ 17th-century playwrights
such as Shakespeare had a good chance to be printed.
2 At the beginning, nobody really wanted to publish a folio edition of William Shakespeare’s plays.
(KEEN)
At the beginning, nobody __________________________________________________________
a folio edition of William Shakespeare’s plays.
3 Heminge and Condell asked Isaac Jaggard to print an official collection of Shakespeare’s plays.
(BY)
__________________________________________________ Heminge and Condell to print an
official collection of Shakespeare’s plays.
4 In Shakespeare’s times, plays weren’t printed if they did not have a certain literary quality.
(UNLESS)
In Shakespeare’s times, plays weren’t printed _________________________________________
literary quality.
5 Many Shakespeare fans want to buy the Norton Facsimie (LIKE )
Many Shakespeare fans ____________________________________________
the Norton Facsimile.
© 2023 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Shakespeare’s First Folio celebrates its 400th anniversary this year
Read On • November 2023 • page 5 Page 6 of 6
Answer key
Listening comprehension
1. (1) 1633 → 1623 • (3) stays → remains • (5) that → any • (7) scrappping → wrapping •
(9) this → his • (12) 1660 → 1616 • (14) silver → single • (17) meet → with •
(20) several → some • (23) saw → was
2. a) sell between $1 million and $10 million at auction. ( para. 10) • b) contains many mistakes.
(para. 13) • c) can be found in the Unites States. (para. 14) • d) is still in print (para. 16)
Reading comprehension
1. a) T (para. 1) • b) N (-) • c) F (para. 3) • d) T (para. 5) • e) N (-) • f) F (para. 7)
2. a) die Gesamtausgabe wurde auf Hadernpapier gedruckt, das sehr haltbar ist. (9) • b) Papier war
damals so teuer, dass sogar die (fehlerhaften) Druckfahnen veröffentlicht wurden (12) • c) es
wurde militärische Überwachungstechnologie eingesetzt (15)
Vocabulary
1. a) influential • b) mere • c) ambitious • d) pirated • e) huge • f) durable •
g) reliable • h) roughly • i) basically • j) intact • k) famous
2. a) G • b) D • c) I • d) E • e) H • f) C • g) B • h) F
Grammar
(1) As their dramas were good … • (2) ... was really keen on publishing … • (3) Isaac Jaggard was
asked by … • (4) ... unless they had a certain … • (5) … would like to buy …
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© 2023 Carl Ed. Schünemann KG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.